Winter Survival: The Northern Expedition

[DevilDog (DayZ) 455]

So this is just an idea of giving the players some more stuff to do and something to try and achieve.

 

(Warning: This is Alpha and something like this won't happen for a long time, no harm in day dreaming though right? Also this would have to implemented only after weather, snow, medicine, sickness ect were all in place and working.)

 

It's a zombie apocalypse, you and your friends have made it through the worst of it. You've managed to eek out a meager existance living off of beans and sardines. Or perhaps you have thrived in the forests. Maybe even killed people for their supplies. Food is running low, the virus is spreading and the threat of death looms over Chernarus like a dark cloud. Now what? Head north in the search of safety.

 

***If you don't care about the 'story' part of this just skip down until you see the underlined part again.***

 

There is a Soviet military base way up north in the mountains that was used for cold weather / mountain survival. Low population, high number of fire arms, cold weather and deep snow could all combine to keep the virus at bay. It is our only hope. So you gather supplies and your friends decide to make the trek up north. The one road in is blocked by an avalanche and it's too cold/atmosphere to thin for helicopters to fly.

 

 

(If you have made it this far thanks. Before people start freaking out about being able to 'win' have no fear. This is DayZ, there is no winning.)

 

Do to your exposure to the cold, snowy, high altitude conditions you will "burn calories" at a much higher rate. So food and water will actually become a concern. If you are lucky you can find a few wild animals on your way, be wary though in the quiet mountains sounds travel further and attract more zombies. As your thirst builds you decide to break out that canteen, it is frozen though (reflected by 0% in the game). Luckily one of your members brought a gas stove and pot so you can melt snow to get fresh water. A few other members get to work on building a fire. You all get warm, hydrated and fed then continue the journey.

 

After several similar stops you are running low on supplies, your navigator might have turned up the wrong valley and night fall is coming. One member got pneumonia and died, another is suffering from a bad case of frost bite.  Finally through the snow you can see part of the base set into the side of the mountain and several out buildings.

 

 

The doors are locked and it does not appear anyone is home. Sneaking past a few wandering zombies you spread out to search the out buildings. You here the screams of another member as he is taken down by several zombies. Finally one of you find the key (either an actual key, or key code). You make it inside the military base and find all the inhabitants are infected. It is not safe here, but you have to look for supplies. You kill which zombies you can and search for supplies. Another member goes down as his frostbite crippled his hands and he was killed by zombies. Just three people left. You manage to load up on food and gas for the stove. You also found the armory and a few left over (insert rare find here, nothing game breaking though, but good enough or cool enough to entice people to go up there). Now you have to travel back and continue your existence in the south.

 

 

 

 

 

***Ok all you other guys come join us now.***

 

 

The goal is not to force people to group up, but it would be a good idea to have some people with you. The hardiest people might be able to make the trip on their own. The goal though is to give people something fun to do and force them to use planning to accomplish it. Fail to bring enough gas or matches and you will certainly die. It will also make you use navigation, medical supplies, cold weather, wet weather survival ect. I just think something like this would be great for the game.

 

Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

[Gandolaf 81]

I pretty much had the same idea a week ago.Expand the map in the north,less citys but lots of roads,forests and loneliness,untill you reach a certain pont,where settlements like in your story are.

 

Because the cold not much people go there=more and better loot,but the mor you go the colder it gets,maybe even to a point vehicles become unusable without preperations.

 

Have my beans!

[Rubbercookie 0]

Vidya devs seem to think "snow" entails a different coloured texture on the ground (e.g. Skyrim). How would they handle that?

In other news I love the idea, hands down.

[raynor009 204]

Wow great idea man, I've read the whole thing. I love it actually. Some bunker or laboratory build inside the mountain filled with some tougher zombies like armored zombie or zombies that could use melee weapons would be awesome. And the cold weather could force people not to camp the area too much. This is the best idea I heard lately. I really hope something like this gets implemented. Someone spam Dean's email with this.

[hombrecz 832]

I like the story and its mood. Immediately I remembered Namalsk!! I loved the harsh conditions there and that you had to find warm clothing to survive in freezing snowy areas.

Would definitely love if map got expanded north, some bigger mountains were added, ofcourse snow and blizzards! Also the roads would be in such bad shape you could not use any vehicles and had to do the trek on foot.

 

And yes, at the very end, there could be the prize, some  military or research facility with some goodies.

Problem would be, that there would be no food there which, althought not very logical, would mean you could not camp it there and instead grab what you could and head back south to warmer climate.

 

Now I know this will be bashed by some folks, to whom this will "smell" of endgame, but consider atleast the snowy and very harsh part of map, where you would definitely need special gear (winter jacket, fur hat etc) to survive.

[gannon46 788]

i would also love to see cold weather. would be awesome if you could easily die from freezing equipment messes up,radios etc...maybe because of blizzards making visibility nearly zero and you use colored flares to show the location of your friend.

[Lancer 2-2 14]

If the Namalsk map can incorporate cold and environmental side affects on your health then I'm sure parts of the map in DayZ SA could if we expanded north to a snowy mountain like terrain where we had snow and not just different coloured textures, running speed was reduced, some kind of tracks left in the snow for a short while until it snowed over again, the cold made you shake, you could catch an illness and die if you did not find warmth.

 

So making camp fires, being inside and wearing warm clothing is vital.

 

This base could hold some form of weapon that only exists up there, like a .50 cal, the ONLY .50 cal sniper rifle, other weapons and military gear are plenty in stock with some food, but not enough food to warrant camping forcing you to come out and hunt wild animals (like dear) which of course with loud weapons runs you the chance of being killed by other players or zombies.

[gingatsu 68]

One of the best and amazing SURVİVAL game suggestion I have ever readed... (not that I readed any suggestion in this scale on the SA forum so far.) This is totally something which kind of people would like to play for whom the survival and the atmosphere of the game is much more important than just turning the game into a mindless first person shooter...

We had some idea like a last stand, for where you and your group heed to some military encampment just to find out that the encampment they got in would be atacked by masses of zombie hordes in waves (yea you kinda get hell of a shooting action. but not players, instead zombies of all kind :D that would satisfy the people for their happy trigger rage ) well we didnt write any cool story like you did though :D and didnt posted our suggestion... dunno why :D

Edited January 6, 2014 by gingatsu

[drkingschultz93 23]

You have my Beans Sir  :beans:

 

One of the best ideas i've seen in this forum so far :D 

I really hope the devs will read this 

 

Greetings from Germany 

 

Dr.King_Schultz

[GhostSlayer (DayZ) 13]

I Would seriously love having a map like Namalsk but totally redesigned, having snowy ice capped mountains, just like the last spoiler picture as i would imagine it to be like, instead of a EMP Blast every so hours like it does so on the current Namalsk map, the redesigned Namalsk would have a Blizzard of snow coming threw like the EMP does, there also could even be underground caves , abandon camps , avalanches, dynamic maps ( if that is even possible) for example of the dynamic maps, when the Blizzard goes threw the trees start to shake heavily, the snow off the ground starts to blow everywhere, avalanches start to acurr , and the aftermath after the blizzard stops, there could possibly be uprooted trees and such on. i hope a map kinda like this would be implemented threw the Devs or Modders  

P.S Great post. I Loved it! :) 

[colinm9991 196]

DevilDog, I like your ideas very much so.

 

You have my beans, my spaghetti, and a saline bag :P

[Lancer 2-2 14]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoLZogUs4No

 

Something like this would be nice!

[GhostSlayer (DayZ) 13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoLZogUs4No

 

Something like this would be nice!

Hell Yeah! i would love a map like that on Standalone ( if thats possible ) i could just imagine the awesome PVP moments in the snow,  

[Greaves 131]

Awesome idea. If southern Chernarus (currently all of Chernrus) isn't hardcore enough for you, move north!

 

Also, people wouldn't be able to camp on sniper mountains for long (without a nice bright fire which gives away their position).

 

People still respawn in the south if they die in the north, ofcourse. Which makes it even more hardcore and tense. 

Edited January 6, 2014 by Greaves

[DevilDog (DayZ) 455]

Thanks for all the great feedback guys, glad you all like the idea. It was one of those ideas that I came up with as I was drifting off to sleep, then I woke up and couldn't remember it haha. It came back though.

 

Hope one of the devs read it.

[Cute Carl Grimes 84]

Awesome idea. Have my beans.

[Frostbyte_ 44]

I´ve yet to see a single game that properly implements snow.

 

And if i had to guess why, i´d say that it´s because snow is such a fucking pain in the ass that players(well most players anyway) really don´t want to play if there is something even near to what snow in reality is.

There´s also a fuckton of additional shit that would need to be implemented to make proper snow feasible, proper clothing, skiis, snowshoes, sledges, specialised vechicles, huge amount of conditions and effects on characters, gear, environment.

2018 maybe?

[Bakercompany86 347]

Very cool idea :)

 

I support this.  Giving much more use to other items found in the game (like the gas stove).  I do think that cold weather should play a huge part in the game, seeing as how it's obviously cold as hell even near the coast.  So venturing up in the map and altitude would certainly bring the biting cold that could kill a man.

 

This also gives those players who try to build the perfect inventory a challenge other than being shot at in Balota.  So instead of carrying 10 M4 Magazines, you might actually want to make room for water purification tabs, a stove, extra gas, food, etc.

 

Love it!  Have some  :beans:

[StayAlive (DayZ) 169]

I love this idea! Cold weather is something i would appreciate very much:)

[Commanderfluffy 20]

Love the idea! And I would love the snow aspect of it.

[DevilDog (DayZ) 455]

Very cool idea :)

 

I support this.  Giving much more use to other items found in the game (like the gas stove).  I do think that cold weather should play a huge part in the game, seeing as how it's obviously cold as hell even near the coast.  So venturing up in the map and altitude would certainly bring the biting cold that could kill a man.

 

This also gives those players who try to build the perfect inventory a challenge other than being shot at in Balota.  So instead of carrying 10 M4 Magazines, you might actually want to make room for water purification tabs, a stove, extra gas, food, etc.

 

Love it!  Have some  :beans:

Yeah that was my biggest goal. Force people to put some thought into their gear for a change. Rather than just badages and bullets lol.

[Etherious 907]

;) You always make the brightest ideas ^-^

[master11388 23]

Please make it happen!

[hrdrok 183]

Great idea DD! I would love to see them do something like this. Once you get up north you could even have guns start malfunctioning. Freezing shut, or getting ice in the mags which would let the next round cycle. Would make survival almost impossible unless you have others to group with.

[DevilDog (DayZ) 455]

Great idea DD! I would love to see them do something like this. Once you get up north you could even have guns start malfunctioning. Freezing shut, or getting ice in the mags which would let the next round cycle. Would make survival almost impossible unless you have others to group with.

Another possibility, I like it. Along with building a fire to keep your body temp up you can have it to defrost your firearms.

 

Before any "realists" come charging in, I know that is not exactly real considering the freezing point of CLP is -75F; but would be interesting.